Premier League Prediction – Week 2

As the Premier League commenced last weekend, I couldn’t be bothered with a fantasy football team. Too much effort. What I could be bothered doing is scoreline predictions.

To motivate the matter, I put a simple points system in place. 3 points for a correct scoreline, 1 point for a correct outcome. So this is how I did in Week 1:

My predictions and accumulated points in brackets:

Hull City 0-2 Leicester City (0pts – Hull won 2-1)

Burnley 1-1 Swansea City (0pts – Swansea won 0-1)

Crystal Palace 1-0 West Brom (0pts – West Brom won 0-1)

Everton 2-1 Spurs (0pts – it was a 1-1 draw)

Middlesbrough 2-1 Stoke City (0pts – it was a 1-1 draw)

Southampton 1-0 Watford (0pts – it was a 1-1 draw)

Man City 3-0 Sunderland (1pt – actual result 2-1)

Bournemouth 0-2 Man Utd (2pts – actual result 1-3)

Arsenal 1-2 Liverpool (3pts – actual result 3-4)

Chelsea 2-1 West Ham (6pts)

Pretty poor start to the campaign. 4/10 correct outcomes. 1/10 correct scoreline. It’s a standard I can now look to improve on in the course of the season.
With the advent of Friday Night Football that means weekend football predictions start early and so:

Man Utd 3-1 Southampton – United really should be too much for Southampton, though I expect them to nick one in just to spoil the love Mourinho has for a clean sheet. It would be great if Ibrahimovic scored on his home league debut and it would be great if Pogba started well too.

Stoke City 1-2 Man City – The only reason I am edging it to City is because I don’t think Stoke City have improved enough to be a threat to them. It should not be easy for the Citizens, though.

Burnley 1-4 Liverpool – I wholeheartedly admit my bias towards the Reds. Even if Mane is injured their attacking options should see them get as much as they did last time out. Of course, knowing me and the typical inconsistency, Burnley will probably nab a draw.

Swansea 2-1 Hull City – Hull’s win last week was a surprise, but there’s nothing about them to suggest they will do well this season at all. I don’t rate Swansea that highly either, but there’s something about home advantage that I think will give them the three points.

Tottenham 2-1 Crystal Palace – Palace won’t have Benteke in time for this match and their striking options are poor. They’ll only score because Spurs are evidently still getting into their stride and the loss of Lloris is going to be an issue, but really the home side have more than enough for the winter.

Watford 0-3 Chelsea – I am sure Watford fans are hopeful their gaffer has the mouse to make the most of their first home game. Chelsea, however, have Conte in charge and he is already impressing me with the way he is going about his business. Their team is vastly superior and that should be reflected in the result.

West Brom 1-1 Everton – Koeman will take time to stamp his mark on this Everton team. They surely haven’t finished their transfer business because their squad looks a little light. Meanwhile Pulis at West Brom believes in effective and efficient football that promises little on the eye and delivers that little promise, so if there’s a score draw this has got to be it.

Leicester 2-2 Arsenal – The Gunners beat the Champions twice last season and it would only be fitting with so much negativity around the club at the moment for them to play well and continue their good record against Leicester. The reason I am defying that outline is because the Champions will do all in their power to ensure they don’t suffer a second defeat and make a clear statement that last season was not a fluke.

Sunderland 1-1 Middlesbrough – The Premier League is not made up of the most exciting teams in the world in one place. These two North East clubs bear that out emphatically. Boro, only just getting back up after a while in the Championship, can be forgiven for still taking their time. Sunderland, however, are once more dealing with new management and style. This apparent derby, will not on paper offer much to excite, hence this prediction.

West Ham 2-1 Bournemouth – Plucky. That’s what Bournemouth are. They exude a manner and desire that makes them hard to beat and hard to hate. Having said that, for all the investment in the side, they don’t look as good as the Hammers. Sure Bilic has a problem up front, but they should still have enough quality to win this match.

Predicting is not an exact science when it comes to the Premier League. From my predictions from this weekend I expect to get 5 correct outcomes and possibly 2 correct scorelines giving me a points total of 9 points.